Eight year old Robert Edwards drives to the basket during the Kent Bazemore Youth Stills Basketball Camp at Norfolk Collegiate School, Aug. 14, 2014 Kent Bazemore is a former ODU basketball star, now with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

Eight year old Robert Edwards is all smiles as he drives to the basket during the Kent Bazemore Youth Stills Basketball Camp at Norfolk Collegiate School, Aug. 14, 2014. Kent Bazemore is a former ODU basketball star, now with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

Eight year old Robert Edwards drives to the basket during the Kent Bazemore Youth Stills Basketball Camp at Norfolk Collegiate School, Aug. 14, 2014 Kent Bazemore is a former ODU basketball star, now with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

L. Todd Spencer| The Virginian-Pilottodd.spencer@pilotonline.com

Eight year old Robert Edwards is all smiles as he drives to the basket during the Kent Bazemore Youth Stills Basketball Camp at Norfolk Collegiate School, Aug. 14, 2014. Kent Bazemore is a former ODU basketball star, now with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

Kent Bazemore had seen enough. He blew his whistle, stepped onto the court and demonstrated proper defensive positioning to a young player who had strayed from where he was supposed to be.

Standing on the sideline, Bazemore's mother, Glynis, laughed. She recalled something her younger son, WyKevin, had said about his big brother's coaching style the night before.

"Kent thinks everybody's in the NBA," she said.

No, in rural Bertie County, sparsely populated and economically challenged, that distinction belongs just to Bazemore, a two-year veteran and Old Dominion graduate recently signed with the Atlanta Hawks.

Bazemore is the first Bertie native to play in The League, and as far as anyone can recall, his three-day camp this week was the first camp in the area since Lester Lyons, a former East Carolina star, held one in the late 1990s. Bazemore is holding another at Norfolk Collegiate through Saturday.

Bazemore attended Lyons' camp, dreaming big even then. He wanted to pass along that sense of possibility to the 50 or so campers at Bertie High.

"Not many of us make it out, but we're trying to show that it's possible," he said. "If not in pro ball, then in something else.

"You can get out of here and see that there's more to life," he said. "And those who stay can make this a better place."

Timber, agriculture and poultry are the primary industries in Bertie, which is about 90 minutes from Norfolk and ranks 99th of 100 North Carolina counties in median household income. Bazemore grew up in Kelford, which is 21 miles northwest of Windsor and had a population of 251 as of the 2010 census. Windsor, the county seat, has roughly 3,600.

He rode a school bus an hour each way. Once at school, he had no shortage of surrogate mothers – colleagues of Glynis Bazemore, a teacher's assistant at an elementary school.

"There was no place for me to hide," he said. "She gave every one of them permission to discipline me however I needed to be disciplined.

"It was great. I wouldn't trade growing up here for nothing."

Several of Bazemore's former teachers were on hand at the camp, helping with logistics. One kept an eye on Spike, Bazemore's French Bulldog, who, like his owner, was just in from California.

Spike watched from the corner of the gym. WyKevin Bazemore, a senior forward at Winston-Salem State, was among the counselors, as were several of Bazemore's former high school teammates.

It felt like a family affair, even for those not formally related.

"Remember this?" Chris Jordan, an assistant coach at Bertie High, asked Bazmore while holding up a t-shirt from a 2006 holiday tournament. It listed the rosters of eight teams, including the Bertie Falcons, and No. 24, "Kenneth Bazemore."

Jordan wore shoes Bazemore had donated to the basketball program. Andre Cherry, another assistant basketball coach, said the camp was far from the first time Bazemore had come back.

"He's humble," Cherry said. "His mom and dad put that discipline in him. He's a good hard-working kid from a hard-working family."

Undrafted out of ODU, Bazemore made the Golden State Warriors in 2012-13 largely on the strength of a breakout summer league performance. He became a fan favorite for his animated bench celebrations, but had trouble cracking the rotation in a deep Warrior backcourt.

Traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in February, the 6-foot-5 lefthander thrived, averaging 13.1 points in 23 games – 15 as a starter – before a foot injury ended his season.

On the mend and now more firmly situated in the league – he signed a two-year deal with the Hawks – Bazemore felt the time was right to hold his first camp.

"I was obligated to come back," he said. "This area has done so much for me, my upbringing."

Bazemore wore an Atlanta t-shirt and said it was surreal to see kids wearing a camp shirt with his name on it. He coached from the sidelines, imploring the kids to run the motion offense he'd taught them and then joined them for several games of "Knockout."

He didn't win, but not for lack of trying. Kids howled with delight when he was eliminated.

Several said they appreciated the new skills they'd been shown. Carlisa Spivey, 14, said she liked the "real life" stuff she had heard from Bazemore.

"Stuff about college and later on in life," she said.

Like several kids who were asked, Spivey said her favorite NBA player is LeBron James. Courtney Winborne of Aulander, a camp volunteer who went to high school with Bazemore, overhead Spivey and said she should reconsider.

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